I heard an Indian novelist interviewed recently. Asked what struck her when she first came to America, she said, “I noticed that in America, the rich are thin and the poor are fat—the opposite of my country.”
Of course, she meant that, compared to the poor, a higher percentage of wealthy, educated people are thin and healthy.
I am tempted to say something similar about my experience as a consultant to speakers and presenters. In America, the highly-educated people are tongue-tied, while the less educated people speak with more impact.
As soon as my fingers type these words, I can think of exceptions. President Obama, Robert Reich, Bill Buckley—all are (were) highly educated and all are good speakers. And of course, we can all conjure images of less educated people who could prove to be ineffective at the lectern.
Still, in my work with scientists, MDs, PhDs, MBAs, statisticians, actuaries, PharmDs, and engineers of all stripes, I encounter a large number of them who struggle terribly with the task of making compelling sense when they stand up to speak about their area of expertise.
And I also work with many people in the sales profession, and while they all possess native intelligence, and have gone to college, they do not have letters after their names. And perhaps because of their experience, or their natures, they are, for the most part, pretty darn good on their feet.
Why might this be true—that the highly educated struggle more as public speakers than the less educated? (By the way, I have no letters after my name.)
Let me speculate. First, highly educated people see things in shades of gray, not in black and white. They tend to pride themselves, and are rewarded for being careful with language, avoiding indefensible generalizations, and striving to make fine distinctions in logic and reasoning. They follow the rules of evidence. In a word, they’re boring.
I heard someone say that in a political rumble, Republicans show up with knives and chains, while Democrats show up with library cards. This is a hit on Obama’s professorial image, but it suggests that an over-educated approach to popular debate is ineffective.
Highly educated people like their speaking to show off their educations. Regular people like to speak in order to get things off their chest, or to make other people do something. Like sales people. They like to get people to buy their stuff. They don’t care if they sound smart.
The other thing about highly educated people is that they know more and more about less and less. They have had to specialize so early in life that they have not been able to read widely outside their area of expertise. They have a highly specialized vocabulary, and struggle to speak the language of the market place.
Nor have they ever had to study rhetoric, or take a class in public speaking. Some of them never even took any liberal arts courses. And by the way, rhetoric is not the dirty word many people think it is. It is the ancient art (and now science) of getting other people to understand and accept your ideas. A good thing to know if you’re planning on having a career of any kind.
So America is a funny country. The rich are skinny, the poor are fat and the highly educated are tongue-tied.
Happy New Year!